Strangers in NYC Give Homeless Czech Man a Ticket Home

The YouTube collaboration known as Whatever, while in New York City handing out sweatshirts, hats and gloves to the homeless before winter, happened to meet a middle-aged man from the Czech Republic who really needed a friend.

The man had come to the United States to work in a hotel in Florida. After losing his job, he traveled to New York with a thousand dollars to look for work there. He was robbed of everything he owned while sleeping in a bus station. After that, he slept in homeless shelters and lived on the streets for months — all while not speaking a word of English.

The YouTube crew had a member that spoke Russian and that is how they learned Jaroslav’s story. All he wanted in the world now, was to simply go home to see his family.

“One of the things I found most inspiring, is he didn’t EVER ask us for anything – despite his situation,” explained Scout, who recorded the events on video. “He was honestly one of the most strong and stoic man I’ve ever had the opportunity of meeting.”

Eventually, after buying the man a haircut, shave, a hotel room and hot pizza, with the help of their friends at threadsociety.com, they bought him a one-way ticket home.

At the airport, after showing Jaroslav where to go and giving him cash to buy food and ground transportation on his long trip back to Europe, they said goodbye.